Another magazine bites the dust. R.I.P. Portfolio. We hardly knew ye. Seriously. The only time I ever read Portfolio was to read David Margolick's work, because his stories are usually interesting and he was one of my professors in the fall (I blogged about an article he wrote on online gossip on Above The Law).But for the most part, I didn't read Portfolio. So I was one of the many un-readers who contributed to its folding.
Employees found out today from the big guy at Condé Nast, S.I. Newhouse Jr. Word is that Wednesday is the last day for everyone on the magazine. Two days' notice. That sucks.
According to the NYT, the "upscale business publication," "failed to gain traction with advertisers and readers, in part because it was confronted by a historic recession in ad spending in its first few years of existence."
The magazine was just 2 years old.
There's nothing more depressing than watching magazines shutter their doors while one is in the midst of racking up debt to get a pricey degree in magazine writing.
Update: There's an excellent dissection of Portfolio's failure by James Ledbetter at Slate's The Big Money: Could Portfolio Have Survived?. And if you're curious, a little Google search leads me to believe that the Portfolio writer who refused to take his bet was likely Felix Salmon, who recently left Portfolio for Reuters.
Condé Nast Closes Portfolio Magazine [New York Times via Romenesko]
Conde Nast Closing 'Portfolio' [Portfolio.com]
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